V

Contents 1 Valletta, not Valetta, Malta. 2 Vanuatu 3 Varanasi 4 VAT 5 venal, venial 6 vendor 7 ventricle, not ventrical, of the heart 8 Very light 9 Versus 10 veteran 11 veto, vetoes, vetoeing, vetoed 12 VHF 13 via 14 vice- 15 vice versa 16 videogame 17 vie, vying, vied 18 Viet Cong, not Vietcong 19 Vietnam 20 Vietnamese names 21 Virgin Mary 22 vocal cords 23 voice mails 24 volcano, volcanoes 25 Volgograd 26 volley, volleys 27 Voodoo 28 VTOL 29 vulgarities

Valletta, not Valetta, Malta.

Vanuatu

Formerly New Hebrides, Southwest Pacific.

Varanasi

Not Benares, India.

VAT

Value added tax, a system of taxing products on the value added at each stage of production and exchange, effectively a consumption tax.

venal, venial

A venal person is corruptible, a venial sin is pardonable.

vendor

ventricle, not ventrical, of the heart

Very light

A signal flare fired from a pistol.

Versus

Spell it out in full in text. It can be abbreviated to vs in tables., but American style is to use v. in court cases, e.g. Roe v. Wade.

veteran

Overused in sports and general news stories and best avoided. Be more precise. Give the person’s age and the details that show why the person is a veteran.

veto, vetoes, vetoeing, vetoed

VHF

very high frequency.

via

Means by way of not by means of. We came via the main roads, but not We came via the bus.

vice-

Hyphenate titles such as vice-president, vice-admiral, vice-chairman etc, apart from U.S. titles. In American style, use two words for titles such as vice admiral, vice chairman, vice secretary. Hyphenate vice-president unless U.S. usage, e.g. vice president of the United States or of an American company. Capitalise when immediately preceding the name of a person.

vice versa

Not vica versa. No hyphen.

videogame

One word.

vie, vying, vied

Viet Cong, not Vietcong

Vietnam

Not Viet Nam.

Vietnamese names

Use the last name alone at second reference, e.g. Nguyen Co Thach is Thach and Bui Tin is Tin. The only exception to this rule is the late Ho Chi Minh (a nom de guerre). He is Ho at second reference.

Virgin Mary

Use this title or the Madonna, not Our Lady except in titles such as Our Lady of Czestochowa or in the names of churches.

vocal cords

Not chords.

voice mails

Two words.

volcano, volcanoes

Volgograd

Formerly Tsaritsyn and then Stalingrad.

volley, volleys

Voodoo

Capitalise when referring to the religion, lower case for a magical fix.

VTOL

vertical take-off and landing.

vulgarities

See obscenities.

Category: The Reuters General Style Guide